Lucia Hanmer

Lead Economist, Gender and Development

World Bank

MDB Sponsored Regional Workshop
Womens Voice and Agency
ADB, Manila, June 2
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this paper/presentation are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Asian
Development Bank (ADB), or its Board of Governors, or the governments they represent. ADB does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this
paper and accepts no responsibility for any consequence of their use. Terminology used may not necessarily be consistent with ADB official terms.
Overview

Gender-based violence as a development
challenge
How large is the challenge?A focus on
Intimate Partner Violence
Program and policy evidence what works
Gender-based violence as a
development challenge
Violence against women is one the most
common and egregious abuses of human
rights
Freedom from violence is an essential part of
agency
Intrinsic value as a human right
Instrumental value in promoting gender equality
GBV has social and health repercussions and
economic costs

The share of women who believe that wife beating can be
justified is decreasing in most countries
HOW LARGE IS THE CHALLENGE ?
More than 700 million women subject to violence at the
hands of a husband, boyfriend or partner in their lifetime
Source: Preliminary analysis of WHO (World Health Organization), global prevalence database (2013) using World Bank regions.
Women often experience physical or sexual intimate partner
violence or both as well as other controls on their behaviour
Source: Voice and Agency 2014 team estimates based on Demographic and Health Surveys for 26 countries using data from 2006-2012
Across 30 countries, only 4 in 10 women exposed to
violence sought any help.
PROGRAM AND POLICY EVIDENCE -
WHAT WORKS ?
What works for preventing violence
Legal reform and responses
Boosting positive gender norms
Social support and services
Economic empowerment plus
Integrating GBV into other sectoral
interventions
Legal reforms
Ending gender-based violence depends on the
commitment of states to enact and implement
prevention and response mechanisms
In countries with legislation womens acceptance of
wife beating is lower
Women who live in countries with domestic violence
legislation are less likely to experience violence
Challenges: increasing access to justice and
implementation and laws alone are not enough
Legal Reform

More countries have laws against domestic violence
Only 38 countries criminalize rape
within marriage
Boosting positive norms
Evidence on what works to change behavior is
emerging but more is needed
Community based models violence prevention
models are showing results
SASA! link to reduction in violence of 52%
Engaging men and boys evidence shows:
Message and messenger matters reinforcing
positive norms is effective
Social services and support
Services for survivors
Long-term and group-based interventions are
promising models for coping skills, reduction of
depressions and PTSD
Increasing Help-seeking
grassroots outreach, secondary responder and
communications campaigns deliver some results
Early results from innovative ICT tools - mobile apps
and internet based solutions - are promising
Preliminary results are encouraging but more evidence
is needed from more countries

Economic empowerment plus
Combines programs to increase womens economic
opportunities with strategic design features to increase
womens agency
Examples: IMAGE program rural South Africa IPV fell by 55%
Uganda vocational training plus safe spaces reduced share of
young women who reported forced sex from 21% to zero

Integrating violence prevention into other
sector programs
Relevant to a wide range of Sectors
Transport: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil public transportation program
will combine access to one-stop shops for survivors of violence
WBG/IDB/GWI toolkit covers six sectors initially